Ceramic thermal barrier coatings (TBC's) are well known for protecting superalloys or ceramic matrix composite material substrates from high temperature environments in a gas turbine. One type of thermal barrier coating used to protect a nickel-based or cobalt-based superalloy component includes an “MCrAlY” bond coat, where M is iron, nickel, cobalt or a combination thereof, that functions primarily as an intermediate bonding layer for the Ceramic Top Coat. A typical composition of this ceramic layer is Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ). The ceramic layer is typically deposited by air plasma spraying (APS), low pressure plasma spraying (LPPS), or by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique, such as electron beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) that yields a strain-tolerant columnar grain structure. Although these coatings have been designed to have a service life of several thousand hours, the coatings may be damaged during their service operation. For example, localized loss, or spallation, of the ceramic layer may occur as a result of foreign-object-damage (F.O.D.) or erosive wear from particulate matter carried by hot gases flowing through the gas turbine. The spallation of the ceramic layer exposes the underlying bond coat to hot combustion gas temperatures, resulting in accelerated oxidation of the bond-coat. The exposed MCrAlY bond-coat may be rapidly consumed, eventually leading to the oxidation of the substrate. Excessive substrate oxidation may lead to catastrophic failure of the component. Traditionally, occurrences of TBC damage in gas turbines have been addressed by shutting down the gas turbine, removing the parts having damaged TBC's, and replacing them with spare parts. The damaged components are then shipped to repair facilities for repair, recoating, and eventual return to service.